Labor leaders representing college faculty across California demanded Wednesday that an accrediting commission withdraw a decision that could close City College of San Francisco next year, now that federal officials have found that the commission violated procedures.

The unions say they are already talking with attorneys about what legal action they might take if the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges refuses to reverse its recent decision to revoke the accreditation of City College next summer because of extensive problems in governance and fiscal controls.

"We call on the accrediting commission to announce that City College will remain open and fully accredited beyond 2014 so students will enroll with full confidence," said Joshua Pechthalt, president of the California Federation of Teachers, which represents instructors at 112 community colleges.

He made his remarks on the first day of school for City College, which opened with nearly 3,000 fewer students than last fall, a drop of 10 percent. This year, 25,813 students are taking classes for credit, compared with 28,753 last year. Throughout the year, about 85,000 students come and go, making the college one of the largest in the country.

'We think it's time'

"We have lost a tremendous amount of students," said Alisa Messer, president of the City College faculty union, who joined Pechthalt and other union leaders in calling for the commission to reverse its accrediting decision. "But the quality of education has never been questioned, so we think it's time for the commission to reverse its decision."

In April, the unions filed a complaint about the commission with the U.S. Department of Education, which oversees the six regional commissions that accredit the nation's community colleges.

The unions called the commission overly harsh with all the colleges in their region, but said it crossed the line during its yearlong scrutiny of City College. They also accused the commission of skirting its rules and engaging in conflicts of interest - including assigning the husband of commission President Barbara Beno to serve on the visiting team that evaluated City College in 2012.

In its letter to Beno on Tuesday, the Education Department upheld that complaint and said the commission lacked a clear policy on conflicts of interest and should not have let the president's spouse judge the college.

The letter said the commission was also out of compliance with federal regulations in three other areas and, like City College, could lose its right to stay in business unless it takes immediate action to correct the problems.

Yet the Education Department told The Chronicle on Wednesday that its findings have no direct bearing on City College's accrediting troubles, although the findings could become part of the appeal the college intends to file. The appeal, however, is made to the commission - not the Education Department.

The findings

The three other findings were:

-- The commission lacks a policy on who evaluates colleges and should have had more than one faculty member on the eight- and 16-member teams that visited City College in 2012 and 2013.

-- The commission uses unclear language to explain what colleges must do to stay in business versus what they may do to improve.

-- The commission fails to require colleges to fix problems within the required two years. (The Education Department cited the commission for the same violation in 2008.)

On Wednesday, Pechthalt and Messer ignored the latter finding, in which the Department of Education made the point that the commission should have told City College that its accreditation was in jeopardy in 2006, its last accrediting review, and required repairs within two years.

Instead, the union leaders praised the other findings, which Pechthalt said confirmed their view that the commission "has operated as a rogue agency and created a climate of fear."

"It's premature to say we'll sue" to overturn the decision on City College, "but certainly the findings by the Department of Education suggest in a very powerful way that the decision on City College cannot stand," he said. "We're talking to our attorneys."

Beno did not respond to requests for comment. But the commission said on its website that it will dispute some of the Education Department's findings, will correct some errors - for example, there were three faculty members on the visiting teams, not one - and will "give consideration to the Department's analysis" that it should be stricter in requiring schools to meet accrediting standards within two years.

Unilateral decisions

Meanwhile, City College will continue to try to repair its deficiencies, said Paul Feist, a spokesman for state community college Chancellor Brice Harris, who is overseeing the efforts. Harris has suspended the college's elected board and installed a "special trustee with extraordinary powers" to make unilateral decisions that may speed the repair process.

The college will also begin its lengthy appeal process by asking the commission next week to review its decision.

At the same time, the U.S. Department of Education will continue its scrutiny of the accrediting commission throughout the fall as part of its regular five-year review.